2 in Berwyn target paper

Council condemns aldermen's boycott

February 12, 2004|By Brett McNeil, Tribune staff reporter.

Despite a formal reprimand from city officials, two Berwyn aldermen say they will push ahead with a boycott they launched against a local newspaper and four of its advertisers because they believe the paper is unfairly attacking them.

"We're protecting our interests, and our interests are not to be the victims of character assassination," said Ald. Branko Bojovic, who believes the Berwyn Gazette is trying to undermine the political careers of himself and his brother, Ald. Alex Bojovic.

But at a Tuesday night meeting in front of a standing-room-only crowd of angry residents and business owners, Berwyn's City Council criticized the boycott as an attack on free speech and small business.

"If you have an argument with a particular newspaper, you do whatever needs to be done with that particular newspaper--you don't attack local businesses," said Ald. Nona Chapman, a frequent ally of the Bojovic brothers who pushed for a resolution distancing city government from the boycott.

Claiming the newspaper is a "political tabloid" with ties to the administration of Mayor Thomas Shaughnessy, the Bojovics early this month called on advertisers to pull their ads and stop distributing the free weekly paper.

In a letter to local business owners, the brothers identified themselves as Berwyn aldermen and threatened to add the names of Gazette advertisers and distributors to their boycott. Despite a warning from Berwyn's legal staff not to use the city's name in their mailings, a second letter went out last week naming four advertisers to the boycott and again identifying the brothers as Berwyn aldermen.

Business owners on the list said advertising in the Gazette is not a political statement and they've unfairly been targeted by a couple of political egos run amok.

"Even if [the Gazette] were a political tabloid, as a business owner I have the right to advertise where I want and not have an elected official tell me that they're going to blacklist me," said Regina Mendicino, owner of a heating and air-conditioning firm.

Branko Bojovic claims all four business owners named in the boycott are "cronies of the mayor"--a charge each of them denied.

Alex Bojovic is running for mayor against the city's dominant Regular Democratic Organization.

Gazette publisher Steve Iwaniec denies any ties to the administration or the Democrats, and instead said he believes the boycott is a reaction to the newspaper's ongoing investigation of Alex Bojovic. "I believe this is an attempt to discredit us ," he said.

The Bojovics counter that they're simply defending themselves from politically motivated coverage. They point out that the Gazette ran a small story on page 11 when mayoral aide Samuel "Sonny" Stillo was arrested on federal corruption charges last year, but when Branko Bojovic pleaded guilty to driving around an active railroad crossing last summer, the paper played the story on Page 1.

"[The Gazette's] objective is to smear our family name. Their objective is to knock off any challenger to this administration," Branko Bojovic said.

Iwaniec said he downplayed the Stillo arrest because there was no conviction in the case, while the alderman's guilty plea to the traffic violation made him fair game. Iwaniec also said that Branko Bojovic had endangered children with his reckless driving, while Stillo's conduct threatened no one with physical injury.

After a 5-2 vote to reprimand the Bojovic brothers, Shaughnessy apologized to residents and business owners.

"It's a very distasteful thing," he said. "These people have brought some very disturbing attention to this city."